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A review by hm_reads
Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
2.75
There are some interesting thoughts in this book and Wolf is very easy to read -- she has a writing voice that is really welcoming and relaxed.
I struggled with a lot of the conclusions in this book, and while I know the author is an expert on early development, this mostly felt like the author was just making a bunch of observations with the throughline of "the impacts of young people reading digitally and/or experiencing digital life should be mitigated". There's also a really heavy emphasis here on how early life educators should approach these dilemmas (probably >25% of the book), for which I'm not really the audience, I must admit.
The best insight of this book, and one I think everyone should abide by without doubt is that you really should keep your children off of tablets.
My previous paragraph is only somewhat facetious, but I think that's a good takeaway. Beyond iPad kids, this text is a way more nuanced take than some of the other more recent books that seem to be directed more towards shaming 'the youth' (see Jonathan Haidt et al) than those mercenary books that are seeking to make money off of millennials aging into the era of shaking our fists at these 'youths' for doing things differently than we did (even if those things are not that different). (I'm not going to go so far as to say this is necessarily what Nicholas Carr was doing in 2010, but there are definitely contemporary echoes in both this book and Haidt's recent work!)
The strengths here really kick off the book (really in the second 20% or so), especially as Wolf makes the case that fiction empowers our imaginations to draw connections and symbolically ponder things we might not otherwise be equipped to do so. I think that's a really interesting insight! And she has the studies to back all of this up, which is great. I'm just not entirely convinced that we're all less equipped to e-read versus reading in print (and also I feel there's a really heavy personal preference associated here!). Some of the most beautiful and inspiring texts I've read in the last year have been digitally, and it has only made it easier for me to consume and return (and use a dictionary/translator in-app if there's a word I didn't know!).
Ironically, the format of letters worked conceptually but in technical application really made this text tougher and more circuitous than it needed to be.
I may adjust my review in the coming days when I have more time to digest this book a bit further, though. Ultimately, I think enjoyment of this book is mostly going to be based on perspectives with regard to digital versus physical media. I'm not ambivalent on this issue, but I wouldn't consider myself a digital partisan, either.
I struggled with a lot of the conclusions in this book, and while I know the author is an expert on early development, this mostly felt like the author was just making a bunch of observations with the throughline of "the impacts of young people reading digitally and/or experiencing digital life should be mitigated". There's also a really heavy emphasis here on how early life educators should approach these dilemmas (probably >25% of the book), for which I'm not really the audience, I must admit.
The best insight of this book, and one I think everyone should abide by without doubt is that you really should keep your children off of tablets.
My previous paragraph is only somewhat facetious, but I think that's a good takeaway. Beyond iPad kids, this text is a way more nuanced take than some of the other more recent books that seem to be directed more towards shaming 'the youth' (see Jonathan Haidt et al) than those mercenary books that are seeking to make money off of millennials aging into the era of shaking our fists at these 'youths' for doing things differently than we did (even if those things are not that different). (I'm not going to go so far as to say this is necessarily what Nicholas Carr was doing in 2010, but there are definitely contemporary echoes in both this book and Haidt's recent work!)
The strengths here really kick off the book (really in the second 20% or so), especially as Wolf makes the case that fiction empowers our imaginations to draw connections and symbolically ponder things we might not otherwise be equipped to do so. I think that's a really interesting insight! And she has the studies to back all of this up, which is great. I'm just not entirely convinced that we're all less equipped to e-read versus reading in print (and also I feel there's a really heavy personal preference associated here!). Some of the most beautiful and inspiring texts I've read in the last year have been digitally, and it has only made it easier for me to consume and return (and use a dictionary/translator in-app if there's a word I didn't know!).
Ironically, the format of letters worked conceptually but in technical application really made this text tougher and more circuitous than it needed to be.
I may adjust my review in the coming days when I have more time to digest this book a bit further, though. Ultimately, I think enjoyment of this book is mostly going to be based on perspectives with regard to digital versus physical media. I'm not ambivalent on this issue, but I wouldn't consider myself a digital partisan, either.